"It's All Good", or aka "What's Not To Like"

It's hard to know where to start with such a day. Throw in that it's late and I'm really tired, and things get pretty abstract.

Just trust me when I say that there really were many salient thoughts that went through my head

during three boards of painted paper plates,


and after a series of quirky bowl shapes ,and a strange evolution of bottle forms.

There were no pictures taken during our trip to the dump where the girls took turns aiming tossed milk jugs into the recycling trailer, the tetherball smack-down between Stacey and I, the discovery of the the new potato plants peeking out over the rows in the garden, our neighbor Robert cutting the field in his old and well repaired Ford 3000 tractor. No jpegs of Lillian's skinned knees after taking a spill during her bike riding lesson or the poor frogs that got a little too warm in the deflated pool. There isn't a record of the hazy dim outline of the tree line behind the shop as I walked down in the obscured by fog moonlight to the house after working tonight, or the smell of wet cut hay (or the smell of a stinky Jack snoring in his crate after heroically pulling the inner tube of giggling girls in the river right before the rain came).

But such is a day in our lives that is drifting into memories and dreamland just as fast as it started with that morning cup of coffee in this bleary eyed potter's favorite cup so many hours ago.

Blog Guilt

Well, I feel so guilty, here's a little quicky of one of the more exciting things happening in the neighborhood, lately. Mark Peter's Pallet Eater at the Energy Xchange! More to follow, when I have time to edit all of the footage I shot yesterday!

Chiao!

Blog Tease

My apologies for not being in touch recently. You can just imagine that I've been busy here and there, getting pots made, ferrying the girls through wind and rain to their swimming lessons, as well as giving tours to visitors at the shop. I've also gotten my feet wet teaching a local workshop to women artist/entrepreneurs on the basics of internet marketing, etc! All this means that I haven't been giving my readers their dose of dirt (and sawdust). I'm sure there are some of you who haven't found the time to keep up with the blogs this time of year, as well.

I wish I could say that I was taking a blog-cation! There's so much I need to catch you up up...

• the pallet kiln at the Energy xChange
• the progress of the sinks
• what's happening at Penland
• drawings and paintings for American Folk Art Show in October

but I'm afraid to say that it will have to wait just a little bit more...

[what a tease!]


till I can collect thoughts, edit jpegs, and find the late night time to sit back down here and type!~

Hey it's Summer! just for a few more weeks till back to school!

Later...

Scenes From The Afternoon

paper plate with ink

paper plates with ink

sink before its a sink
25lbs or 11.3 kg

Too hot to write or talk much. Back to work to finish up the day before heading over to Crimson Laurel opening this evening.

Informal Survey

While throwing these 25 lb sinks I wonder which is worse, my glasses slipping down my nose? Or the mosquito biting my neck?

Daily Drawing Book

Here are a few from my daily drawing book I have started for the American Folk Art Show in October. I will update it from time to time with some of my favorite drawings from the day.

Sacrificial Ironweed + Book of Drawings

Just a quicky for now.
Here is a bowl that got the hakame (that's japanese for hack-it-to-me) slip treatment.

I'm making some pots despite a case of the man-flu.
I've also been working on a book of drawings for the show in October. I'll try to post more images soon.

Drawings and Layers

a detail of a larger drawing

a slightly different detail

of the same drawing

loop-d-loop fun

loop-d-loop + reeds+ fake writing

Here are a few of the drawings I have been working on. These are all india ink on tracing paper and were photographed through the window of my studio. The above are each either two sheets, or three sheets that were put together in different orders. I'm playing around not only with line and form but with the various compositions and how they look together in varying degrees of transparency. I have bumped up the contrast a little to get an accurate darkness of the top sheet. I have been drawing these very quickly and usually do about twenty sheets over a ten minute flurry. Then I spend a fair amount of time looking at them in various combinations. This is awkward territory for me and I'm hoping to be more confident and less self-conscious. I think the drawings will be better.

Anyway, I hope this is a little window into what I'll be doing in the coming weeks. I will share more thoughts as this process evolves.

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!

Thanks Fred!!

The Kilns of Madison County

not a kiln

Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite places in the mountains, Madison County. The landscape is full of beautiful communities and small farms. Although there are a lot of bridges to cross the many creeks that flow through it, this won't be a survey of the many bridges, kilns (or barns) of Madison County.

I was in Madison Co. to help Alex Matisse and some friends lay some brick for a new wood kiln. Alex Matisse is back to blogging and you can catch up with the news at East Fork here! It was a hot day, but under the beautiful post/beam kiln shed, a breeze kept us happy.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed building with brick! Especially the beautiful brick Alex had recently hauled up from Alabama. As I laid the brick I began to think about a new kiln that I hope to build in the coming years. I've been feeling a little cramped in my kiln for a while, especially when I load big pots, but what an investment of time and money! I remember what seemed like an eternity to finish my current kiln and the stress that it was for Stacey and I. But now that the studio is relatively finished, I can think about the future!

It's OK to dream, right?
Well, it's time to get back to drawing and potting!

Here are a couple of shots of the new kiln at East Fork.

keeping it plumb.
from l to r, Alex Matisse, Matt Jones, and James Ward

at the end of the day
quite a few bricks were laid